Once your photogrammetry processing is completed in the Terrain Creator app, you need to transfer your drone data to the Virtual Surveyor app for the actual survey work. You have two options:

  • Single Survey: Use the Open in Virtual Surveyor button if this is a single or first survey of a specific area. 
  • Compare Over Time: Select the To Existing button if this is an additional survey of an area you’ve previously surveyed and want to compare changes over time.


Open in Virtual Surveyor button found in the Terrain Creator app ribbon.



Overview


Start Your Survey Today

Once your photogrammetry process is complete, you are ready to start surveying the site. Click on the Open in Virtual Surveyor icon and your project will open in the Virtual Surveyor app. The project will have the same file name as the one you used in Terrain Creator, and the drone data is present in the Terrain State.


Use the Open in Virtual Surveyor button to move the processed drone data into Virtual Surveyor as .ei (DSM) and .ii (Orthomosaic) files.


Start your survey. With your project open in the Virtual Surveyor app, you are now ready start work and create your survey. Each project you open using the Open in Virtual Surveyor button creates a new project for that specific moment in time. You can use the same button after processing a future drone flight to create another separate Virtual Surveyor project.


Accessing data files. You can access your data files using Ctrl+E in either the Terrain Creator or Virtual Surveyor app.


Notes on drone data: It is best practice to include the site's name in your Virtual Surveyor project. When in the Virtual Surveyor app, the date of the drone flight is present in the Terrain State, and any survey data you add to a specific dataset is stored and accessible in that dataset's individual Terrain State. 


Compare Projects Over Time

Use the To Existing function to add a Terrain State to an existing Virtual Surveyor project. Using Terrain States allows you to add datasets from multiple dates to a single project that you can compare over time. The To Existing button is only available once you have completed the photogrammetry process and when you have the Virtual Surveyor app running with a project already open.


Switch over to the Virtual Surveyor app. After clicking the To Existing button, switch over to Virtual Surveyor. Once in the Virtual Surveyor app, you will see the file name listed in the Terrain State box along with your Elevation and Image Terrain files shown in the Project View under No Layer. 


Use To Existing (button name changes depending on what project is open in the Virtual Surveyor app) to create a new Terrain State for an open project in Virtual Surveyor.


Important! You will get an error if the newly added terrain data falls outside of the existing project area. If the new dataset is in a different coordinate system, Virtual Surveyor will reproject the data on-the-fly.


Tips & Tricks

Comparing earthworks and mining projects over time. You can fly a drone over a project site at regular intervals and use the Terrain States to compare your earthwork or mining projects over time. To do this, use the same method shown in the "Compare Projects Over Time" section of this article:

  1. Use Terrain Creator to process any additional drone flights that were flown for the same site at separate times.
  2. When the data is processed, click the To Existing button to instantly create a new Terrain State in your open Virtual Surveyor project.